Chinese envoy urges Thailand-Cambodia to resume ceasefire as soon as possible
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People displaced by war between Thailand and Cambodia queueing for food at a temporary shelter in Buriram province, Thailand.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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BEIJING – The top priority for Thailand and Cambodia is to agree to a ceasefire and resume dialogue to resolve their border disputes peacefully, a special Chinese envoy to the region has said.
For three weeks, Thailand and Cambodia have engaged in daily exchanges of rockets and artillery
China has since joined the top diplomats of the 11-member ASEAN in urging both countries to exercise restraint and take steps to halt fighting.
China supports ASEAN’s mediation efforts and is willing to once again create conditions and provide a platform for dialogue and negotiations between the two sides, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on on Dec 23, citing its special envoy for Asian affairs Deng Xijun.
Mr Deng recently travelled to the two countries, meeting their respective prime ministers and other senior government officials as part of China’s shuttle diplomacy.
Thailand and Cambodia have agreed to hold a meeting on Dec 24
China, which calls itself a “friend” and “close neighbour” to both Cambodia and Thailand, has been seeking to facilitate mediation. It says it has been promoting a resolution to the conflict “in its own way”, without referring to the Trump ceasefire deal.
Mr Trump claimed that the Thai-Cambodian conflict was one of eight wars he stopped around the world, even as the fighting broke out again.
“In a region marked by complex historical sensitivities, few actors can claim to have the trust and willingness necessary to sustain mediation efforts as China, whose balanced and constructive approach provides a stable impetus for de-escalation of the tensions, as it did in helping broker reconciliation between Iran and Saudi Arabia last year,” state-run China Daily wrote in an editorial on Dec 22. REUTERS
